From the prior art, electric plugs of this type and corresponding connection systems are known, for example as so-called RJ45 electric plugs or RJ45 connection systems. Electric plugs of this type are used, for example for connecting electrical conductors of a cable to a corresponding counter connector, for example in the form of a corresponding socket or plug-in coupling. Provided on the end face of an electric plug of this type are horizontal contacts for contacting respective counter horizontal contacts of the counter connector. The electrical conductors of the cable are connected to a corresponding number of vertical contacts in a cable-side connection region, while provided in a second plug-in-side connection region are the horizontal contacts which are used to contact the corresponding counter horizontal contacts of the counter connector. The vertical contacts for connecting the electrical conductors and the horizontal contacts are usually positioned on a contact carrier, which electrically interconnects the cable-side connection region and the plug-in-side connection region.
A contact carrier of this type is configured, for example as a printed circuit board which is inserted horizontally into the housing of the electric plug. This has a disadvantageous effect in that, if the housing of the electric plug is flat, the connection space above the printed circuit board in which the vertical contacts are connected to the electrical conductors of the cable, is relatively small. The use in particular of insulation displacement (ID) contacts as vertical contacts for connecting the electrical conductors of the cable has the disadvantage that the contact legs of the ID contacts must accordingly be relatively short. This is particularly the case when a plurality of ID contacts are provided and are arranged in tandem in the cable-side connection region, such that electrical conductors for connection to ID contacts have to be guided in a central region of the electric plug over ID contacts which are located closer to the cable-side end of the electric plug. In order to allow these electrical conductors to be guided over the ID contacts provided on the cable-side end of the electric plug, said ID contacts have to be relatively short if the vertical extent of the housing is not to be increased.
On the other hand, electric plug configurations are also known in which the contact carrier is produced in step-form when seen in a side view. In this embodiment, the ID contacts provided on the cable-side end of the electric plug are arranged on a lower plane than the ID contacts of a row arranged downstream in the plug-in direction. This has the advantage that the electrical conductors which are to be connected to the last-mentioned ID contacts can be guided over the ID contacts which are on the cable-side end of the electric plug. However, with this embodiment as well, a relatively small space is available since the step-form contact carrier requires a relatively large amount of installation space, with the result that the ID contacts must again be relatively short.
In this respect, a short configuration of ID contacts has the disadvantage that only a relatively low multiple contacting and a relatively low contact reliability is possible, conditioned by the relatively short spring legs of the ID contacts. In this respect, relatively short spring legs have a lower resilience such that the contact quality decreases after repeated contacting and releasing of electrical conductors on the ID contacts, with the result that the contact reliability decreases with the number of multiple contacting procedures.